Localizing games for the Spanish Speaking World! Martina Santoro Okam Game Studio, Argentina Alejandro Gonzalez Brainz, Colombia

Transcription

1 Localizing games for the Spanish Speaking World! Martina Santoro Okam Game Studio, Argentina Alejandro Gonzalez Brainz, Colombia

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3 What you will hear in the next 22 mins. Introduction to Latin America How this world is diverse Difficulties you will find Overview of the Spanish speaking World How we approach localizing games for the region Case study: Vampire Season Some key considerations Wrap up

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6 Despite the difference, we have many of commonalities

7 In contrast, western games work great in the region

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12 And how about payments Credit card penetration is less than 15% Mayor app store do not support carrier billing, and carriers in LATAM tend to want 60% - 70% of revenues and an integrator on top!

13 This is the spanish speaking world

14 It s the second natively spoken language 900,000, ,000, ,000, ,000,000 Source: Wikipedia 0 Mandarin (12%) Spanish (6%) English (5%) Hindi (4%) Arabic (3%) Portuguese (3%) Bengali (3%) Russian (2%) Japanese (2%)

15 And the third most used 1,200,000, ,000, ,000, ,000,000 Source: Wikipedia 0 Mandarin (15%) English (11%) Spanish (7%) Arabic (6%) Hindi (5%) Russian(4%) Bengali (4%) Portuguese (3%) Japanese (2%)

16 These are the biggest native spanish speaking countries 120,000,000 90,000,000 60,000,000 30,000,000 Source: Wikipedia Mexico Colombia Spain Argentina Peru Venezuela Chile Ecuador Guatemala Cuba Bolivia Dominican Republic Honduras Paraguay El Salvador Nicaragua Costa Rica Panama Puerto Rico Uruguay Equatorial Guinea

17 But again, many speakers live outside the region 120,000,000 90,000,000 60,000,000 30,000,000 Source: Wikipedia Mexico United States Colombia Spain Argentina Peru Venezuela Chile Ecuador Guatemala Brazil Cuba Dominican Republic Bolivia Honduras France El Salvador Nicaragua Italy Paraguay Costa Rica Puerto Rico Panama Morrocco Uruguay United Kingdom Phillipines Germany Canada Equatorial Guinea

18 Source: Wikipedia In fact, US has 38 million native spanish speakers alone

19 And English as a Second Language penetration is extremely low Country Bilinguism Source Spain 35% Eurobarometer report 2012 Argentina 6.5% Wikipedia Mexico 4.6% 2006 Census: Spoken Language Colombia 1% Ministry of Education 2007, EF, British Councel

20 Although slowly improving Country Score Trend Level Sweeden Very High Proficiency Argentina Moderate Proficiency Spain Moderate Proficiency Brazil Low Proficiency Mexico Low Proficiency Colombia Very Low Proficiency Europe as a whole speaks the best English, Latin America the worst. Source: EF

21 Spanish & Mexican Spanish?? So Apple suggests Latam has only one spanish: Mexican Spanish.

22 But in reality there are many! Mexican Spanish Colombian Spanish Rioplatense Spanish Peuvian Spanish Venezuelan Spanish Chilean Spanish Ecuadorian Spanish Guatemalan Spanish Cuban Spanish Dominican Spanish Honduran Spanish Paraguayan Spanish Salvadorian Spanish Nicaraguan Spanish Costa Rican Spanish Panamanian Spanish Puerto Rican Spanish Uruguayan Spanish Equatoguinean Spanish

23 Case Study: Vampire Season Originally written in English Blends classical horror and pop culture Has a lot of references to internet gags We wanted to attract Latin a mercian Audiences (Spanish and Portuguese)

24 We used google docs to manage dictionaries

25 And refactored our font texture atlases to contain Latin characters in the languages we needed to roll out Took care of using fonts with tildes (á) and eñes (ñ)

26 Translating Jokes were specially tough as we had to find sayings that actually made sense in the target language English: Bone to be Wild Spanish: Un hueso duro de roer! We Relied on Onomatopoeias eg. O.U.C.H. (Outstanding Undead Care & Healing)! And were careful that characters were relevant across cultures: eg. Nuck Chorris Survival Guide

27 We translated to spanish using our internal copy writer! We then check style (game designer and community manager)! Finally did a pass with peers in Mexico and Spain (we did not do the same for Argentina, but should have)

28 Results Rose to #1 in Spain

29 Results And throughout the region

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31 Results But especially due to Apple s interest in localized content.

32 Results And Samsung s interest in localized content

33 Momentum (Vampire Season + Audio ninja)

34 Takeaways Local editorial teams love localized content! It can also broaden the appeal to non bilingual audiences! Neutral spanish works even better than Chilean Spanish for Chileans, etc.! Art does not need localization if comes from US or EU

35 Some tips for neutral spanish: Avoid using words that might have different meanings in different countries ( Comida = lunch in Mexico / dinner in Colombia)! Some words can can be inappropriate depending on the country ( traste = utensils in Mexico / butt in Argentina).! Avoid using words that are not universally used (eg. Instead of Amigo (friend), using pana (Venezuela), cuate (México), parce (Colombia), compinche (Argentina).! More important, have people proofread your copy in different Countries (either your top countries, or the ones with most app users (Mexico, Spain, Colombia and Argentina).

36 Windows Phone Approach Allowing carrier billing as an opt in by developer! Issuing an extra 13.9% in carrier billed transactions! This can help conversion in Latin America and emerging markets

37 Special thanks!! Juan Pablo Lastra, Behavior Interactive, Chile Luis Wong, LEAP Game Studios, Perú Alvaro Azofra, Ironhide Studios, Uruguay

38 Thanks for listening! Contact us!